Cynthia Granville

SAG-AFTRA AEA

Brrr!
Trying to stay warm this winter, sharpening my craft in Austin Pendleton's class at HB. What an inspiration!
and feeling the love from VICE, with their big thumbs-up for THE FISHERMAN'S WIFE. Like the reviewer, I hope it's only the beginning for this adventure!

You can still catch it on HBOGO...Thrilled to be part of HBO's HIGH MAINTENANCE season finale, playing talented Arthur Meyer's roommate. There's more
to tell, but spoilers....I think HM is the most original show on
television and I'm very grateful to Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair
for inviting me to come play.

and in March, a reading coming up with The Supporting Characters,
of Roni Schiffres' new play (which is in title transition).
Playing a mom struggling with her marriage, her self-destructive
daughter, and her own health crisis.

2016
I'm lucky to have several projects currently on various
screens. Beginning its festival run, with me playing the Mystery
Woman who haunts...or
stalks?...an unhappy young girl, is Alexandra Keosayan's study of
self-destruction and rebirth, LOOK FOR ME. Very much looking forward to
seeing this beautiful project on a big screen.

Ben Leonberg's
THE FISHERMAN'S WIFE premiered at Lincoln Center on May 14 and has been
kicking festival monster tail, with wins for Best Short/Best
Cinematography at Comicpalooza, Best Horror Short at Coney Island, and
Best Actress for me at Comicpalooza!
Had a wonderful time freezing in the waters of Maryland and channeling
my inner Linda
Hamilton/Sigourney Weaver as I kicked some sea/river monster
tail! Come see the end results
this wonderful production team created--no green screen here. Back in
NYC in November!On the live performance front, I've
just completed my second year keeping my
improv skills sharp--and being part of something very
meaningful--working as a standardized patient...playing a
character with a given backstory and symptoms as medical students hone
their skills.

Excited to be
resuming work on Tim Kelly's film JACK OF HEARTS. I'm
playing the mother of my real-life daughter Molly Callahan, unhappy in
my marriage like so many of my ladies, wanting to be closer to my
daughter, and ripe to be enticed by something very sinister! We
first worked on this project in 2015, and now we'll be shooting
periodically through summer. Speaking of...
2015
I was seen in July in Patrick McCarthy's new adaptation of King Lear,
playing his older daughter now named Anneril. We're modern
capitalists but just as ruthless as the original family! We, THE LEARS opened the All Out Arts--Fresh Fruit Festival on July 13.

Had a blast this March in Project Rushmore's
reading of the dark but often hilarious A BRIGHT NEW BOISE, playing
Pauline, whose job as manager-from-Hell of a Hobby Lobby is a dream come true.

I continue to return to an old friend, Kathy
Kafer's
LINCOLN CONTINENTAL, a two-handed play spanning 30 years in the life of
a father and daughter, centered around the family car--playing assisted
living centers. And just saw a wonderful cut of Nick
Weiss-Richmond's VACATION FACE, in which I play Amy, the "Eeyore"
family
friend whose appearance, like the albatross, always signals
disasters!

Meanwhile, Laura
Shapanus'
short film "Acceptance,"
in which I'm a librarian who bonds with
Laura's struggling mom at a critical point, followed its New
Filmmakers
New York and Hoboken Film Festival screenings with an Audience Choice
Award at New Hope and continues to visit festivals. Very proud to be part of this powerful
story.
Spring 2014, so glad to have reunited with
playwright Dick Brukenfeld on his world premiere BLIND ANGELS at
Theater for the New City. The "acting was first rate across the
board," as I played a "chilly" Senator Kaye Hammond in this look at
terrorism from the inside. Fun to play an outright villain for a
change! Kept
warm in
winter with on-camera and theatre scene classes. Thanks to Alaine
Aldaffer, Kevin Kuffa, Michelle Bossy, Todd Thaler! Last winter I had a
great
time with Bill Hopkins. When I can't get to a roaring fire...Laid
down tracks for the fundraising campaign of a new musical,
LIVES CROSSING/CROSSING LIVES, with the awesome Alison McKay! News
there soon. Writer/director
Nick
Taylor is moving forward with his new feature screenplay, WHERE THE
RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD, which I've already had the
pleasure of doing a table read for...he's planning a fall shoot and I
can't wait to play this great role. It's always a pleasure to
work with NIck, who most recently directed me in PARADISE EAST and "The
Chip and Ernie Show." Of course I always stay busy and connected
to the new plays I love with The Supporting Characters writers
lab. Even got to play Faustus recently at Rockland Community
College after writer/teacher Robert Gulack developed the play in lab!
I am now a proud member of Project Rushmore NYC,
with whom I had a wonderful time this summer in the New York premiere of Jane
Anderson's powerful THE QUALITY OF LIFE. Originally cast as a
guest artist, I am delighted to now be part of this artistic family and
look forward to many more projects to come. I played Jeannette, a free
spirit who's spent her adult life seeing the world through the eyes of
her soulmate, and now is faced with challenges she must meet alone.

BOYS IN THE BACKROOM
took another step forward as Vince Trani is wrapping up the
score. I play the damaged Reba in my adaptation of the late Le
Wilhelm's haunting play. I met Vince, who's also an actor, when
we worked on QUALITY OF LIFE. August
brought the California premiere of "Mental Health," a
Judd-Apatow-meets-Carol-Burnett
sketch comedy pilot in which I play...Jim Morrison--yes, THAT Jim
Morrison!

End of 2012/beginning of 2013, keeping busy and sharp meantime at Weist-Barron, where I was
awarded a
scholarship in Bill Hopkins' excellent advanced film acting class.During holiday season I appeared in multiple roles at Rutherford, NJ's 12 Miles West in A CHRISTMAS CAROL: The Radio
Play. I'd previously been seen there during the spring in THE CLEAN HOUSE, in the leading role of Lane. Directed by Robert
Cox, the company's Artistic Director, with an amazing cast! A
wonderful story of laughter and the power of unselfish love. Review
said I let the audience "see the hurt underneath her cold exterior
without ever hitting a false note; her final scenes...were played so
tenderly that your heart broke." Meanwhile,
I was a rocker chick for the first time since high school, new vocalist with
a classic rock band which had a long history in Queens but disbanded, and
reunited for a reunion gig.
I also sang in
the feature film "Snow," directed by Saba, and had a blast backing up our
lead singer at Madison Square Garden, courtesy of green screen.

Earlier
in 2012: wrapped my role in "Acceptance," and working on another short by Tim Kelly.
Wrapped
up 2011 with reading at Blue Curtain Theatre of a new play by Robert
Gulack, and appeared as Delilah in the world premiere of play with
music (a cappella), LADIES OF THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
Yes, I played
another...lady of the night...but she's very special, in this tale of
the 1930's. Visited the 1940's in It's a Wonderful Life,
the
radio play, at 12 Miles West in NJ.

Meanwhile,
the trailer for my upcoming feature Boys in the Backroom, with me as
barfly/mascot Reba,
can be seen here!
And Jasmine (Paradise East) appears in web spinoff "The Chip
and Ernie Show," the holiday episode.
WARNING: Like the film which inspired it, the web series
contains very strong language and adult situations.

Appeared as Emily (Arvide) Abernathy in GUYS AND DOLLS for
Genesis
Repertory/BAPA. Outer Stage loved
us, and mentions my "acerbic wit and lilting voice added a new
dimension to the character and a deeper understanding of the plot."

I
was thrilled with my segment on The Onion News Network for Independent
Film Channel (IFC) as one of my damaged ladies, here the spokeswoman
for the Damaged Women's Coalition's march on Washington.
Segment is online here.

PARADISE
EAST is on the festival circuit, with me playing troubled mother
Jasmine. A new, more tightly edited version was recently
screened at the Quad in NYC. Footage of my money scene is here!

Highlights 2009-10

November
was spent in Haverstraw, NY as the title role in
Jean-Paul Sartre's THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE. Yes, another
damaged lady...Lizzie McKay as a pawn in a race and class struggle in a
small Southern town remains timely and disturbing today. Had
a
wonderful time at Shades Rep, directed by Samuel Harps.
Doubled
up some of the rehearsal period to reprise my role as FRAU DRACULA (the
Prussian She-Bitch from Hell) in NYC...inflicting some of the damage
this time!

Still
proud of my fifteen minutes of fame in my segment for the online ONN,
which subsequently was featured on CBS Sunday Morning. Enjoy, if you haven't seen it
already, or see it again! Appeared
with Instant Shakespeare, recently featured in the NY Times for their
readings of Shakespeare around NYC. Reprised my role
as lost soul Reba,
the mascot of the BOYS IN THE BACKROOM by Le Wilhelm. First
onstage, then in my first feature film as actor/director.
Visit
the website often for updates as we
move through post!

"Wally
and the Chosen Few," in which I play an earthy MILF/La Belle Dame sans
Merci (fun!), was part of the NY Downtown Film Festival
and won Best Ensemble! Black guy meets gal at Jewish Speed
Dating...! And
coming soon, "Our Gotham"'s latest episode, which I AD'd and in which I
have a cameo as one of my most frequently cast roles (can you
guess?)...look for me in the trailer.

AUTOPILOT,
in which I play the disaffected mom of a delinquent teen, premiered at
SXSW and took international
festivals by storm. Appearances
include Clermont-Ferrand,
Bilbao (winner Silver Mikeldi), Indielisboa, Breda, and Hamburg.
Bowed again here in the states at the Brooklyn Intl Film
Fest.

I
directed/edited/starred in a music video for singer extraordinaire
Athena Reich, "Just Me," which won second place
in her video contest and now has over 2900 views. All about
heartbreak and lost love.

THE
CHECK IS IN THE MAIL, or it was, at the NYC Fringe Fest.
Two businessmen have the world in the
pockets of
their tailored suits.
But then they get greedy with top saleswoman Janet (me),
things
get ugly, and they decide to eliminate the competition...literally.
Having just wrapped PARADISE EAST, I came roaring back with
one of my more well-adjusted ladies. Edge Boston (yes, Boston) and Outer Stage liked my work.

THE
MIND (scenes at the link), an indie horror feature which saw
me playing another
well-balanced gal (in the vein of WITH AND WITHOUT), a supportive wife
whose husband is unfortunately possessed by a murderous entity, had its
world premiere in Philly. Missed it because I was working on
PARADISE EAST. I play another of my damaged
ladies...Jasmine is a loving mother with some very dark secrets, who
comes to a very bad end.